tunne1rat Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I may have mentioned this before, but the Zetec S interior lights are pants! To add insult to injury, I also have no wiring for the foot-well lights. So as part of an on-going interior light upgrade, I decided to wire my own. This guide is primarily for the Mk7 Fiesta but could be adapted for any car. I got the bulb holders from a certain auction website which fit neatly into the holes provided by Ford. I took the power feed from the roof courtesy light centre bulb so that the foot-well lights come on with the courtesy light but can also operate on demand by switching on the roof light. This suites my requirements as I have no intention of having them on whilst driving, but can manually switch all interior lights on with just one switch. To connect my new power feed I soldered the wires directly to the light cluster. I also used a small plug and socket (usually found inside a television) so that my circuit can be disconnected if I need to remove the light unit in the future. I could have used some crimp on male/female terminals or a choc block type connector, or even attached the wires directly to the bulb holder. Anyway, here is the guide: I have purposely made this project expandable and the next project is going to be to improve the lighting for the rear seat passengers. Watch this space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Fester Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Good guide,like the comic style piccies B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 I mentioned in the guide that I had made this project expandable, so here is the first wave of expansion... Firstly a different approach to courtesy roof lighting... and a new invention of mine to illuminate the rear footwells... Yes, illuminated floor mats. Keeps the kids amused anyway! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2011fiesta Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I mentioned in the guide that I had made this project expandable, so here is the first wave of expansion... Firstly a different approach to courtesy roof lighting... Yes, illuminated floor mats. Keeps the kids amused anyway! Lol that's great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bladerunner Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Hi tunne1rat, All your light mods look good to say the least. Are you going to elaborate how you did the rear led mat edges with another great style guide. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted August 5, 2012 Author Share Posted August 5, 2012 Thanks for the comments guys. I haven't done a guide for the mats etc as there is no magic involved. The product used is Electroluminescent wire (also know as EL or Neon wire). The secret is to get the stuff with a stitching tab such as this: http://www.elwirecraft.co.uk/el-products/el-wire-categories/sewable-el-wire-tron-glow-wire-easy-sew-tag-strip-3-50-a-metre/ The wire needs a small 12v inverter to work, but uses very little current - so no danger of overloading your existing lighting circuits. The wire can be cut, but re-joining it requires some very fine soldering skills. For the mats I simply glued the stitching tab of the EL wire to the edge of the mats and for the headlining I used a fine strip of self adhesive velcro tape stuck to the stitching tab so that the velcro sticks to the headlining and holds the wire between the headlining and door seal. I have been playing with EL wire for many years and never get bored. Much more fun than LED's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 That stuff is amazing. Lenny, stop drooling. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenny Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 That stuff is amazing. Lenny, stop drooling. :P it does look very cool, i really like the job done on the roof very Tron. it would look good on the door cards too. i purchased a battery powered pack of this before in yellow for my daughter who dressed up as rapunzel for Haloween and anyine who ever watched the film will see that her hair glows yellow when brushed. but i never thought of fitting it to the car though. it does look good and very efficent due to each strip being fed from a single led illuminating along the fibre optic cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi Lenny although I am aware that safe low voltage LED/fibre optic lights exist, this is not what this product is. In fact nothing could be further from the truth as this wire needs around 200v ac just to get it glowing, and rather than having a single light source at the end, the whole length of the wire glows due to a central copper core being coated in a phosphoric layer which emits light particles (photons) when high voltage alternating current passes through it. The amount of current you need is dependant on the length of wire. This means any cut ends or bare wires have to be properly insulated. I accidentally touched a bare end once and I won't be doing that again in a hurry. Sew this wire into your underpants at your own risk. A micro 12v inverter can be hidden under headlining or behind a panel and can drive up to 5m of EL wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenny Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi Lenny although I am aware that safe low voltage LED/fibre optic lights exist, this is not what this product is. In fact nothing could be further from the truth as this wire needs around 200v ac just to get it glowing, and rather than having a single light source at the end, the whole length of the wire glows due to a central copper core being coated in a phosphoric layer which emits light particles (photons) when high voltage alternating current passes through it. The amount of current you need is dependant on the length of wire. This means any cut ends or bare wires have to be properly insulated. I accidentally touched a bare end once and I won't be doing that again in a hurry. Sew this wire into your underpants at your own risk. A micro 12v inverter can be hidden under headlining or behind a panel and can drive up to 5m of EL wire. I assumed it was fibre optic cable due to it being fitted to a 12v source. i didnt think it would have an inverter fitted to power it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 I have now upgraded my interior light to the one with map lights and wired the submarine lights to come on with the dash illumination. Just need to order some brighter LED Bulbs now. Also a big thank you to Hell_Bunny_sXe for sending me his spare light unit! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Thank you for the tutorial. Even though I have the footwell light holders and even have the wiring, mine are simply not working. I suppose they have been programmed out or something.. So I will have to do it myself. Firstly a different approach to courtesy roof lighting... Could you please elaborate how you achieved this kind of outcome as above. What products did you use and what method was required. I'm bit puzzled of how one would achieve something like this. Could this also be done in red or in any other colour? Though I have to admit that this light blue is simply awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Sorry for the delay, I have not been around much. The EL wire I used has a built in stitching tab running the length of the wire. For the floor mats, the tab was simply glued to the edge of the mats. For the roof, some fine strips of Velcro were cut and glued to the EL wire stitching tab. This Velcro'd tab was then pushed between the headlining and door seal and grips to the headlining via the Velcro and can be easily removed/replaced if necessary. An EL inverter was then hidden in the A pillar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Cheers Tunnelrats. This information is much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123yahyaa Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Thanks for the comments guys. I haven't done a guide for the mats etc as there is no magic involved. The product used is Electroluminescent wire (also know as EL or Neon wire). The secret is to get the stuff with a stitching tab such as this: http://www.elwirecra...p-3-50-a-metre/ The wire needs a small 12v inverter to work, but uses very little current - so no danger of overloading your existing lighting circuits. The wire can be cut, but re-joining it requires some very fine soldering skills. For the mats I simply glued the stitching tab of the EL wire to the edge of the mats and for the headlining I used a fine strip of self adhesive velcro tape stuck to the stitching tab so that the velcro sticks to the headlining and holds the wire between the headlining and door seal. I have been playing with EL wire for many years and never get bored. Much more fun than LED's. hey there, do you happen to have a wiring diagram of how the footwell lights are installed? looking to add this amazing el wire you have enlightened me on, would like them to come on with the footwell lights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_sXe Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 I have now upgraded my interior light to the one with map lights and wired the submarine lights to come on with the dash illumination. Just need to order some brighter LED bulbs now. Also a big thank you to Hell_Bunny_sXe for sending me his spare light unit! No problemo! Glad someone got use of it as I didn't need it or the panel it came in just the B/T mic I am utterly drooling over your strip courtesy lighting but doing the wiring scare the beejeebus out of me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 hey there, do you happen to have a wiring diagram of how the footwell lights are installed? looking to add this amazing el wire you have enlightened me on, would like them to come on with the footwell lights As my car does not have factory fitted footwell lights (or wiring), this guide was designed to add all of my lighting requirements to the existing roof courtesy light circuit. If you do have factory fitted footwell lights, then you can simply tap into these for your extension lighting. Simply get an EL inverter capable of powering your required length of EL wire and tap it into your existing footwell light circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 I am utterly drooling over your strip courtesy lighting but doing the wiring scare the beejeebus out of me! Attaching wires to the EL wire is quite tricky so most EL wire suppliers can make up the lengths for you. If you need any help or advice drop me a pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4RC Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I also have no footwell lights in my zetec s :(. Think I'm gonna wire some in at the weekend. Not sure if I should make them colour changing or not. I know the colour changing led strips don't have memory function (if the power is cut off) and I want them to come on/off with the courtesy light but if I do that the LEDs will just go on straight to the default mode eg. Flash different colours and whatnot. And ideas to help would be great :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4RC Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Also I was considering taking it to an on/off switch just I case the need to be isolated. I was gonna put the in thE spare slot under the radio ( the secret compartment bit) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 I also have no footwell lights in my zetec s :(. Think I'm gonna wire some in at the weekend. Not sure if I should make them colour changing or not. I know the colour changing led strips don't have memory function (if the power is cut off) and I want them to come on/off with the courtesy light but if I do that the LEDs will just go on straight to the default mode eg. Flash different colours and whatnot. And ideas to help would be great :) My colour changing LEDs have a memory function and always come on to the last selected colour. They also have preset memory banks so that custom colours can be made and stored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4RC Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 My colour changing LEDs have a memory function and always come on to the last selected colour. They also have preset memory banks so that custom colours can be made and stored. Aww ok. I've got them in now anyway, just went for blue. Do you have a link to ones with memory function? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunne1rat Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 I bought them over a year ago so the original link is now dead. The remote and LED controller look identical to this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1M-2M-3M-4M-5M-5050-Waterproof-IP65-RGB-LED-Strip-44-Keys-IR-Remote-Controller-/200942701195?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&var=&hash=item2ec91e4a8b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notfourgo Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Dear ! Why dont connect to GEM? I have a diagram to do so but I dont know how to connect/wire to GEM by real schematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichalS Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Is this schematic same for facelift or maybe can anyone share the 7.5 schematic for Continental version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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